How Real Wage Growth Finally Turned Positive in 2026

Wages and Prices with Fexingo: Cost of Living, Pay Raises, and Workers' Purchasing Power · Jun 6, 2026 · 8m · transcript

For most of the past four years, raises have been a losing battle against inflation. But fresh data from May shows that average hourly earnings are now growing faster than consumer prices for the first sustained stretch since early 2021. Lucas and Luna dig into the numbers: average hourly earnings hit $37.50, the CPI is at 332.4, and the gap between wage growth and price growth has flipped positive. They explore what changed, why core inflation is still sticky at 3.8%, and whether this moment is durable or temporary. The episode closes with a look at which workers are seeing the biggest real…